Versailles ( ) is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Morgan County, Missouri Morgan County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,006. Its county seat is Versailles. The county was organized January 5, 1833, and named for General Daniel Mo ...

, United States. The population was 2,539 at the 2020 census.

History

A post office called Versailles, after the royal palace in France, has been in operation since 1835. Versailles was not

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted until 1854. The Martin Hotel, built in 1853, had such guests as the showman

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was ...

and outlaw robber

Jesse James Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, Bank robbery, bank and Train robbery, train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie (Missouri), Little Dixie" area of M ...

. Since the late 20th century, it has been operated as a museum. Both it and the Morgan County Courthouse are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The courthouse was designed in a French style.

Geography

Versailles is in eastern Morgan County.

Missouri Route 5 Missouri Route 5 is the longest state highway in Missouri and the only Missouri state highway to traverse the entire state. To the north, it continues into Iowa as Iowa Highway 5 and to the south it enters Arkansas as Arkansas Highway 5 as pa ...

passes through the western and northern sides of the city, leading north to

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...

and south to Camdenton. Missouri Route 52 joins Route 5 around the north side of Versailles, but leads southeast to Eldon and west to Stover. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, Versailles has a total area of , of which , or 0.17%, are water. The city sits on a ridge which drains north toward the Straight Fork, part of the Moreau River watershed, and south toward Little

Gravois Creek Gravois Creek is a stream in south central Morgan County, Missouri. It is a tributary of the Osage River within the Lake of the Ozarks Lake of the Ozarks is a reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozark ...

, part of the

Osage River The Osage River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The eighth-largest river in ...

watershed.

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 2,482 people, 1,034 households, and 590 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 1,201 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.8%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.8% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.1% of the population. There were 1,034 households, of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.9% were non-families. 38.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age in the city was 40.9 years. 22.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.2% were from 25 to 44; 22.9% were from 45 to 64; and 22.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.5% male and 52.5% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 2,565 people, 1,077 households, and 636 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 1,195 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.40%

, 2.14%

, 0.66% Native American, 0.04% Asian, 0.16% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.05% of the population. There were 1,077 households, out of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.3% were

living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.9% were non-families. 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.95. In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 23.4% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 25.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 77.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 70.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $23,672, and the median income for a family was $31,088. Males had a median income of $24,054 versus $18,229 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $14,200. About 11.4% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

Events

Versailles hosts an event known as the Old Tyme Apple Festival every year typically on the first Saturday of October.

Economy

Dixon Ticonderoga, a pencil manufacturing company, had a plant in Versailles until it closed in 2005.

Education

Public education in Versailles is administered by Morgan County R-II School District. Versailles has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, the Morgan County Library.

Notable people

Dwight Bolinger Dwight Le Merton Bolinger (August 18, 1907 – February 23, 1992) was an American linguist and Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. He began his career as the first editor of the "Among the New Words" feature for ...

, linguist *

Bill Laurie Bill Laurie (born July 5, 1952) is an American former basketball player and coach, and current business executive and philanthropist. He is the former owner of the St. Louis Blues and is the co-chairman of Paige Sports Entertainment. Early lif ...

, executive *

Joseph Franklin Rutherford Joseph Franklin Rutherford (November 8, 1869 – January 8, 1942), also known as Judge Rutherford, was an American religious leader and the second president of the incorporated Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. He played a primary role in ...

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co- ...

preacher *

Bud Walton James Lawrence "Bud" Walton (December 20, 1921 – March 21, 1995) was the brother of Sam Walton and a Walmart businessman. Biography Early life Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy "Nannie" Lee Lawrence Walton on December 20, 1 ...

, co-founder of

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

* June Rae Wood, author

References

External links

* * Historic maps of Versailles in th
Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection
at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

{{authority control Cities in Morgan County, Missouri Cities in Missouri County seats in Missouri